I must admit I put wasps on the list of “Just Trying to Make a Living”.
Well, my FIL’s a funny guy. Not usually intentionally, granted. Still, funny. 
Or the boat sinks… 
My ex did that.
I’ve seen some good sized copperheads at our lake cottage in Southeastern Kentucky. They blend in really well so I don’t see them often, but once every three or four years we’ll see one. One of my earliest memories is watching my great grandmother take a hoe to one of them when it ventured onto the porch of our cottage.
You don’t get between a grandma and her grandbabies and live to tell the tale.
My mum is from Australia, and moved to the American south. She did not, and probably still does not, believe that there are non-venomous snakes in Australia, and she’s not very convinced about North America.
One of my treasured childhood memories is the day I had a bunch of friends over, and we were running around in the yard. I came in the house and saw a small, 6" snake - again, a copperhead - in the living room, presumably looking for a quite spot. My mum then told the roving bands of freaking-out children to get her her snake stick - yes, as an Australian, she still had a designated snake killing tool. It couldn’t be found, so she bludgeoned the poor snake to death with a chunk of firewood.
Like, PunditLisa, my copperhead sighting was in Southeastern Kentucky (Pulanski County).
I actually thought it was an off-color rat snake, because it was so big! I took a couple bad pics, and posted the best one on the KY Herp society board:
http://www.petsgaloreky.com/kyherpsoc/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1357
It’s hard to tell from the pic, but this guy was easily three feet, if not three and a half. The best part about this thread isn’t the thread itself, but the three PMs I got from people asking for EXACT locations, since they wanted to go measure this guy for a possible personal-biggest find. Unfortunately, I had to tell them the truth - that it was private property, and if the owner knew there was a snake that big on the property - much less a copperhead! - he’d be hunting it down, not letting a bunch of nerds do a catch and release.
Right, but it does go a long way for respect with coworkers… Baby 1’ copperhead found at work last week, everyone all worked up and in a tizzy. Yep, sure, should be cautious. I went back with a bucket and a long stick, tumped it into the bucket, and drove it off to release in the woods. No big deal, they don’t jump up into your throat , they’d rather get the hell out of where big ass things are if allowed.
Got back from releasing it, and there was this awe of el the snake handler, braving the Poisonous Snake!!! Really, no, I just got it to go where it wanted when exposed, tipped it with the stick, and herded it toward the bucket. he wanted to get away from all the gawkers. Gawkers still in awe, though. Yeah, OK, that’s about two weeks of fame currency.
There was a foot-long ground rattler in the plant a couple of weeks ago. A guy was picking up the bits and pieces of wire and rubber when one of the pieces tried to wriggle away.
Freaked everybody out. It was finally killed.
Seems to have come in within a shipment of crates that had been stored outside in Shreveport, LA. There was also a big-ass nest of red wasps delivered to us. Two of the things I moved to Missouri to escape–the snakes and the wasps–and now they’ve found me!
Yeah, see, my point was to NOT kill the snake, but get it out of there, which it’s most happy to be away from US.
Your snake was native to your area, this one was not. Besides, ours was a bit more dangerous than yours.
I don’t care if it’s a tiny little garter snake – I’m running the other way! (I am so insanely phobic I can’t even look at pictures of snakes, as I’ve said time in most snake threads.)
When I was a kid, we lived in a place that used to be part of a big estate, which was then broken up into four separate apartments. The place was infested with black snakes. Somehow, my parents managed to make me completely unaware of this until we moved out. (Thank GOD. I don’t think I’d have ventured outside if I had known it!)
According to my dad, one way to keep snakes out of your yard is to keep your grass cut SHORT – make sure you mow it frequently.
BTW, what is the most aggressive snake, or are there any? Please, if you can help it, no pictures. Thanks!
In the US, rattlers are often highly aggressive, as are some cottonmouths, though both will usually try to escape or hide before striking.
“Aggressive” is not a word that’s usually very applicable to snakes. Given enough warning, almost all snakes, no matter the species, will hightail it away from humans. Some will stand their ground, however, if surprised. The cottonmouth is definitely one of them. It’s a big, heavy bodied snake that has a nasty venom. It’s entirely possible to die from a cottonmouth bite. DO NOT FUCK WITH A COTTONMOUTH. They can be truly dangerous snakes.
The copperhead has a “reflexive bite” instinct, if surprised. They will strike at boots, feet, etc. that are too close, although most of these bites are warnings and inject very little or no venom. Also, they have a relatively mild venom that is not a serious threat to humans (although it requires medical attention). Take note, however, that their first instinct is to bolt, and if they know you’re coming, they’re really very mild-tempered.
Rattlesnakes can also stand their ground. It’s hypothesized that they evolved their rattle to keep from being trampled by large herbivores. Their “warning stance” - all curled up, head upright, rattle a-rattlin’, is their most notorious feature. Generally, however, they have to be coaxed pretty damn hard to actually bite. Not many critters are dumb enough to hang around and screw with a rattlesnake that’s giving its warning. In other words, in most cases, just back away, and you won’t get bitten. If you pick up a stick and start poking it, you deserve whatever the hell you get anyway.
Side note: the eastern diamondback rattler (no pic, darn it, since you asked) is sometimes considered the most dangerous snake in North America. It’s the world’s largest rattlesnake, for one thing. They can get to be over 7 feet long, and they’re heavy as hell. They envenomate heavily, and the mortality rate for a bite is very high.
But speaking of snakes and snake pics, here is a cute little DeKaye’s brown snake I caught in the back yard. Awwwwwww…
In the bad old days of the Johnson Administration Copperheads and Cottonmouths were a royal pain at Ft. Leonard Wood, on the northern edge of the Ozark Plateau in Pulaski County, Missouri.
Before we could send recruits into a bivouac area the cadre would beat the grass and bushes with fire beaters (a piece of rubber on a broom handle) to scare the snakes out of the immediate vicinity. On the Big Piney River Impoundment the Cottonmouths would casually swim right past fishing boats. A friend of mine would routinely carry a .410 shotgun to deal with them. He kept shells in his tackle box right along with the plastic worms. I don’t remember either species being any more than two feet long.
On both species the shape of the head clearly distinguished them from rat snakes – that and the froth of bubbly salvia that the Cottonmouths sported all the time.
We had our share of Diamondback and Timber Rattle Snakes, too. Fort L. Wood must be the snake capitol of North America. None-the-less, I don’t remember more than two or three cases of snake bite in the 18 months I was stationed there.
And then there’s the coral snake. Mild mannered, doesn’t posture. Has a very small mouth with fangs that don’t inject venom so much as channel it along grooves.
Its venom, though, is similar to a cobra’s. Oh, and just for added fun–they’ve stopped making coral snake antivenon…
But it’s so pretty! I just wanna touch…:eek:
My brother (age 15) was bitten by two of them just last week. I think he stepped where several of them were and startled them. He was at camp at the time. I don’t think he was being stupid, just walking.
Is he ok?
Yeah. My dad told me a story about his military days when he was stationed at Fort Carlos (?), possibly in Cuba. He saw a little kid sitting in a sandbox and playing with a snake… turned out to be a coral snake. He made the kid drop the thing and took him to the base clinic to get checked out, but nobody got bitten, so happy ending for everyone (including the snake, this time.)